1.
Iceland
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Iceland is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of 332,529 and an area of 103,000 km2, the capital and largest city is Reykjavík. Reykjavík and the areas in the southwest of the country are home to over two-thirds of the population. Iceland is volcanically and geologically active, the interior consists of a plateau characterised by sand and lava fields, mountains and glaciers, while many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a climate, despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle. Its high latitude and marine influence still keeps summers chilly, with most of the archipelago having a tundra climate. According to the ancient manuscript Landnámabók, the settlement of Iceland began in the year 874 AD when the Norwegian chieftain Ingólfr Arnarson became the first permanent settler on the island. In the following centuries, Norwegians, and to a lesser extent other Scandinavians, emigrated to Iceland, the island was governed as an independent commonwealth under the Althing, one of the worlds oldest functioning legislative assemblies. Following a period of strife, Iceland acceded to Norwegian rule in the 13th century. The establishment of the Kalmar Union in 1397 united the kingdoms of Norway, Denmark, Iceland thus followed Norways integration to that Union and came under Danish rule after Swedens secession from that union in 1523. In the wake of the French revolution and the Napoleonic wars, Icelands struggle for independence took form and culminated in independence in 1918, until the 20th century, Iceland relied largely on subsistence fishing and agriculture, and was among the poorest in Europe. Industrialisation of the fisheries and Marshall Plan aid following World War II brought prosperity, in 1994, it became a part of the European Economic Area, which further diversified the economy into sectors such as finance, biotechnology, and manufacturing. Iceland has an economy with relatively low taxes compared to other OECD countries. It maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. Iceland ranks high in economic, political and social stability and equality, in 2013, it was ranked as the 13th most-developed country in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index. Iceland runs almost completely on renewable energy, some bankers were jailed, and the economy has made a significant recovery, in large part due to a surge in tourism. Icelandic culture is founded upon the nations Scandinavian heritage, most Icelanders are descendants of Germanic and Gaelic settlers. Icelandic, a North Germanic language, is descended from Old Norse and is related to Faroese

2.
Politics of Iceland
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Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament, the Althingi, the Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. It is arguably the worlds oldest assembly democracy, elected to a four-year term, the president has limited powers and is poised in a largely ceremonial office that serves as a diplomat and figurehead. The prime minister and cabinet exercise most executive functions, the head of government is the prime minister, who, together with the cabinet, takes care of the executive part of government. Only when the party leaders are unable to reach a conclusion by themselves in time does the president exercise this power. This has never happened since the republic was founded in 1944, the regent had, for all practical purposes, the position of a president, and Sveinn in fact became the countrys first president in 1944. The president is elected every four years, the cabinet is elected every four years, the modern parliament, called Althing or Alþingi, was founded in 1845 as an advisory body to the Danish king. It was widely seen as a reestablishment of the founded in 930 in the Commonwealth period. The Althing is composed of 63 members, elected every 4 years unless it is dissolved sooner, suffrage for presidential and parliamentary elections is 18 years of age and is universal. Members of the Althing are elected on the basis of representation from six constituencies. Until 1991, membership of the Althing was divided between a lower and upper house but this was changed to a unicameral system. Ólafur Ragnar successfully has used his largely ceremonial office to promote Icelandic trade abroad, the next presidential elections will be held in June 2020. The last parliamentary elections took place on April 27,2013, the ruling government was the first majority left-wing government. The ruling coalition parties, the Social Democrats and the Left-Green Movement lost 18 seats in Alþingi, the Progressive party was the largest party after the election and formed a coalition with the Independence Party. A total of 193,792 votes were cast constituting 81. 4% of the 237,957 electorate, in losing four seats in the April 1995 parliamentary elections, the IP and SDP mustered a simple majority in the 63-seat Althing. However, Prime Minister and IP leader Davíð Oddsson chose the resurgent Progressive Party as a more conservative partner to form a stronger and more stable majority with 40 seats. Splintered by factionalism over the economy and Icelands role in the European Union, the beginning of the millennium saw a merger of all the left parties to form the Social Democratic Alliance. Some members chose to join another new left party instead, the Left-Green Movement, after the PPs loss in the 2007 elections its longstanding alliance with the IP ended despite still being able to form a majority

3.
Constitution of Iceland
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The Constitution of Iceland is the supreme law of Iceland. It is composed of 80 articles in seven sections, and within it the leadership arrangement of the country is determined, the current constitution was first instituted on June 17,1944, since then, it has been amended seven times. In the 19th century, the Icelandic independence movement was gaining momentum, while nationalism, in June 1849, the king of Denmark was forced to meet the demands of the liberals and the nationalists, and agree to a constitution for Denmark and thus also with Iceland. This constitution repealed the absolute monarchy and established a monarchy in which power over most important issues was handed over to a parliament elected by the people. This change was not well-received with Icelanders, as it in reality translated to reduced autonomy for Iceland, before 1849, Icelanders had officially ruled themselves as they happened to see fit in domestic matters. But now those matters were falling under the control of parliaments over which Icelanders had no influence, but when said region was annexed by Prussia in 1867, new conditions were created and stöðulögin were passed 1871, which determined the standing of Iceland in relation to the Danish state. In 1874, on the anniversary of the settlement in Iceland, Christian IX became king of Denmark. This opportunity was used to give Iceland its own separate constitution and this constitution was called Stjórnarskrá um hin sérstaklegu málefni Íslands, and was the basis of Icelands current constitution. With the sambandslögunum of 1918, Iceland became a sovereign state and this constitution was called Stjórnarskrá konungsríkisins Íslands. In early 1944 the Althing approved the cancellation of the sambandslögin and agreed to a new constitution, an election was run in May of the same year and had a turnout of 98%. 97% voted to break off the current relationship law with Denmark, on June 17,1944 the Althing met at Þingvellir, where the constitution was ratified and the republic established. After the ratification of the constitution, it has been amended seven times in total, mostly due to changes in the structure of the constituencies of Iceland, in 1991 the organization of Althing changed so that it now worked in one house rather than two as previously before. Extensive modifications were made in 1995 when the human rights sections of the constitution were reviewed, section I states that Iceland is a Republic with a parliamentary government, and the Althing and the president jointly exercise legislative power and judges exercise judicial power. Section II contains articles 3 through 30, and states where the Presidential Seat is, meetings with the Althingi, and presidential rights. Section III contains articles 31–34, and defines term limits for Althingi members, section IV contains articles 35-58, and defines the major issues concerning the activity of the parliament and determines the rights and power of the MPs. The section says that nobody is allowed to approve a bill before three readings in the Althing, and Althing meetings shall take place in public unless approved by the Parliament. The majority of MPs must be present to deal with an issue, many other parliamentary procedural rules are legally defined according to the 58th article. Section V contains articles 59-61, and describes the regulation of judiciary and it says that the judiciary may be established by law, that the judiciary will settle disputes around competence of authorities, and that the judiciary shall be guided solely by law

4.
President of Iceland
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The President of Iceland is Icelands elected head of state. The incumbent is Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson, who is now in his first term as President, the President is elected to a four-year term by popular vote, is not term-limited, and has limited powers. The presidential residence is situated in Bessastaðir in Garðabær, near the capital city Reykjavík, when Iceland became a republic in 1944 by the passing of a new constitution the position of King of Iceland was simply replaced by President of Iceland. A transitional provision of the new constitution stipulated that the first President be elected by the Parliament. Etymology of the word Forseti from Old Norse is the one and it is the name of one of Æsir gods, i. e. the one of justice. He is generally identified with Fosite, a god of the Frisians, the President appoints ministers to the Cabinet of Iceland, determines their number and division of assignments. Ministers are not able to resign and must be discharged by the President, the ministers are delegated the Presidents executive powers and are solely responsible for their actions. In the aftermath of elections, the President has the role to designate a party leader to formally start negotiations to form a government. The President and the Cabinet meet in the State Council, the Cabinet must inform the President of important matters of the state and drafted bills. During meetings the Cabinet may also suggest convening, adjourning or dissolving the Parliament, the President can decide that the prosecution for an offense be discontinued and can also grants pardon and amnesty. Article 2 of the states that the President and the Parliament jointly exercise the legislative power. The President signs bills passed by the Parliament into law and can not to sign them. Bills vetoed by the President do take effect immediately, should the Parliament not withdraw them, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson is the only President to have vetoed legislation from the Parliament, having done so on three occasions. This power was intended to be used only in extremely extenuating circumstances. The President has the power to submit bills and resolutions to the Parliament which it must take under consideration, should the Parliament not be in session the President can issue provisional laws which must conform with the constitution. Provisional laws become void if the Parliament does not confirmed them when it convenes, no President has ever submitted bills nor resolutions, nor issued provisional laws. Article 30 of the states that the President can grant exceptions from laws. No President has ever exercised this authority, the President convenes the Parliament after general elections and dissolves it

5.
Prime Minister of Iceland
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The Prime Minister of Iceland is Icelands head of government. The prime minister is appointed formally by the President and exercises executive authority along with the subject to parliamentary support. The meetings shall be presided over by the Minister called upon by the President of the Republic to do so, the Prime Ministers office is located in Stjórnarráðið, Reykjavik where their secretariat is based and where cabinet meetings are held. The Prime Minister has a residence, Þingvallabær in Þingvellir. The Prime Minister also has a Reception House at Tjarnargata, Reykjavik which was the Prime Ministerial residence until 1943

6.
Cabinet of Iceland
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The Cabinet of Iceland is the collective decision-making body of the government of Iceland, composed of the Prime Minister and the cabinet ministers. A constitutional amendment, confirmed on 3 October 1903, stated that the Minister for Iceland had to be a resident of Reykjavík and be able to read and write Icelandic. The Minister for Iceland therefore belonged to both the Danish Cabinet and the newly created Icelandic Cabinet but was only answerable to the Icelandic Parliament, executive power was thus transferred to Iceland with the creation of the Icelandic Cabinet. In the beginning, there were no cabinet ministers nor ministries that formed the Cabinet, the offices were called first, second and third office. The first office was responsible for court, school and church affairs, the second for employment, transport and postal affairs and the third for finance. The Minister for Iceland was the most supreme officeholder in the Cabinet, but each office was headed by an Office Manager and a National Secretary supervised the three managers. The position of Minister for Iceland in the Danish and Icelandic cabinet was discontinued 30 November 1918 as the Danish–Icelandic Act of Union was signed 1 December 1918 by Denmark and Iceland. The agreement made Iceland a sovereign state — the Kingdom of Iceland — joined with Denmark in a union with the Danish king as the head of state of both kingdoms. The Minister for Iceland at the time of the signing of the agreement, Jón Magnússon, the current cabinet, consists of the following ministers, List of cabinets of Iceland Official website Official website

7.
Althing
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The Alþingi is the national parliament of Iceland. It is one of the oldest extant parliamentary institutions in the world, the Althing was founded in 930 at Þingvellir, the assembly fields or Parliament fields, situated approximately 45 kilometres east of what later became the countrys capital, Reykjavík. This event marked the beginning of the Icelandic Commonwealth, even after Icelands union with Norway in 1262, the Althing still held its sessions at Þingvellir until 1799, when it was discontinued for 45 years. It was restored in 1844 and moved to Reykjavík, where it has resided ever since, the present parliament building, the Alþingishús, was built in 1881, of hewn Icelandic stone. The constitution of Iceland provides for six electoral constituencies with the possibility of an increase to seven, the constituency boundaries are fixed by legislation. A party must have won at least five per cent of the vote in order to be eligible for these proportionally distributed seats. Political participation in Iceland is very high, usually over 80 per cent of the electorate casts a ballot, the current president of the Althing is Unnur Brá Konráðsdóttir. The Althingi is one of the oldest extant parliamentary institutions in the world and its establishment, as an outdoor assembly or thing held on the plains of Þingvellir from about the year 930 AD, laid the foundation for an independent national existence in Iceland. To begin with, the Althing was an assembly of the Icelandic Commonwealth. Those attending the assembly dwelt in temporary camps during the session, the centre of the gathering was the Lögberg, or Law Rock, a rocky outcrop on which the Lawspeaker took his seat as the presiding official of the assembly. His responsibilities included reciting aloud the laws in effect at the time and it was his duty to proclaim the procedural law of Althing to those attending the assembly each year. Public addresses on matters of importance were delivered at the Law Rock and there the assembly was called to order, the Lögrétta, the legislative section of the assembly, was its most powerful institution. It comprised the 39 district goðar plus nine additional members and the Lawspeaker, as the legislative section of Althing, the Lögrétta took a stand on legal conflicts, adopted new laws and granted exemptions to existing laws. Althing of old also performed a function and heard legal disputes in addition to the spring assemblies held in each district. After the country had divided into four quarters around 965 AD. Another court was established early in the 11th century and it served as a supreme court of sorts, and assumed the function of hearing cases left unsettled by the other courts. It comprised 48 judges appointed by the goðar of Lögrétta, when the Icelanders submitted to the authority of the Norwegian king by the terms of the Old Covenant in 1262, the function of Althing changed. The organization of the came to an end and the rule of the country by goðar disappeared

8.
Supreme Court of Iceland
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The Supreme Court of Iceland is the final court of appeal in the judiciary of Iceland. It is also the oldest court of law in Iceland and the higher of the two Icelandic court branches, the other being the District Courts of Iceland. Notwithstanding the fact that the Court is not mentioned by name in the Constitution of Iceland but only its justices, it is validated in the Courts Act No. The Supreme Court of Iceland is located at the Dómhúsið at Arnarhóll in Reykjavík, a building that was built for that purpose. The current President of the Court is Markús Sigurbjörnsson, the Court was founded under the Supreme Court Act No. 22/1919 and held its first session on 16 February 1920, previously, the Landsyfirréttur, or National High Court of Iceland, had been the highest domestic court, but a line of appeal had been available to the Supreme Court of Denmark in Copenhagen. The establishment of the Supreme Court moved the word in Icelandic cases home to Iceland. The first justices of the Supreme Court were Kristján Jónsson, Halldór Daníelsson, Eggert Briem, Lárus H. Bjarnason and Páll Einarsson. The first three men had been the judges of the old National High Court, which had operated throughout the 19th century but was abolished with the founding of the Supreme Court of Iceland in 1920, the Supreme Court justices elect a President and a Vice-President. He is responsible for the operation and finances of the Court, for especially important cases, the President of the Court may decide that the bench be constituted by seven justices. When a case is heard by five or seven justices, these shall usually be the most senior justices on the Court, the main rule is that cases are presented orally before the Supreme Court, and the court sessions are generally open to the public. The President of the Supreme Court presides over the session or, in his absence, if neither of them is hearing the case, the most senior justice in session will preside. As soon as a case presentation is finished, the justices retire for a closed meeting to discuss. One justice will be responsible for introducing the matter and proposing a solution of the case. Finally, a complete judgement will be prepared, and the justices will sign a copy which is filed in the Book of Opinions of the Court. For cases where members of the Cabinet are suspected of criminal behavior, the Landsdómur, after the transfer of power from Denmark, the Court was first housed in the Old Penitentiary Building on Skólavörðustígur in Reykjavík. In 1949 it moved to the court building on Lindargata. 1993 saw a competition to design a new home for the Court, which was won by Margrét Harðardóttir and Steve Christer of Studio Grandi, Reykjavík

9.
Elections in Iceland
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Elections in Iceland gives information on election and election results in Iceland. Iceland elects on a level a ceremonial head of state, the president -. The president is elected for a term by the people. The parliament has 63 members, elected for a term by proportional representation. Iceland has a multi-party system, with parties in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone. The most recent election was held on 29 October,2016, vote share changes are given compared to the 2009 election results, seat changes are given compared to the distribution immediately before the election

10.
Constituencies of Iceland
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Iceland is divided into 6 constituencies for the purpose of selecting representatives to parliament. The new division comprises three countryside constituencies and three city constituencies and this has occurred, and as of the elections in 2007, one seat was transferred from the Northwest constituency to the Southwest one. Administrative divisions of Iceland Geography of Iceland Municipalities of Iceland Regions of Iceland Media related to Constituencies of Iceland at Wikimedia Commons Article on Alþingi website

11.
Icelandic presidential election, 2004
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A presidential election was held in Iceland on Saturday,26 June 2004. Traditionally, Icelandic presidential elections in which the incumbent president indicates a wish to obtain a new mandate are uncontested. The current president, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, was first elected in 1996 with 41. 4% of the vote, in 2000 he was re-elected without opposition. By tradition, the presidency is an almost entirely powerless office, as the presidents almost never use the granted to them by the constitution. Ólafur Ragnar, however, has expressed a wish to have a discussion on the role of the head of state. Unprecedentedly in the history of the Icelandic Republic, on 2 June 2004 Ólafur Ragnar vetoed a media ownership law passed by the Althing

12.
Icelandic presidential election, 2012
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Presidential elections were held in Iceland on 30 June 2012. There were six candidates, but the election became a contest between the incumbent President, and the journalist Thóra Arnórsdóttir, who wanted to return the presidency to a ceremonial role. Many significant matters that are likely to lead to conflict and confrontations are going to be on the agenda in the coming years, Thóra Arnórsdóttir, a journalist and news presenter. She announced her candidacy on 4 April and received the necessary 1,500 signatures in one weekend, others, Ari Trausti Gudmundsson, a writer, geophysicist and formerly of the Communist Party of Iceland, but now an independent. Dr. Herdís Thorgeirsdóttir, a lawyer and professor of law and human rights at Bifröst University. She called a meeting that day and said her campaign would be an experiment on democracy, whether it was possible to run without the backing of powerful financial actors. She is the President of the European Women Women Lawyers Association, Andrea Jóhanna Ólafsdóttir, former chairwoman of Hagsmunasamtök heimilanna, a non-governmental organisation founded in the wake of the 2008–2012 Icelandic financial crisis. A vocal critic of government and financial institutions, she announced her candidacy on 1 May. She supports the minimum wage of 193,000 krona, hannes Bjarnason, a farmer who lived in Norway for 14 years. He seeks to enhance the place of morality in the public debate, two other candidates declared their intent to stand in the election, but later dropped out, Jón Lárusson, a police inspector charged with investigating tax fraud since the economic crisis. He claims to be apolitical and has opposed membership of the EU, Ástþór Magnússon, previously a candidate in the 2004 election, a businessman and pacifist, who announced his candidacy on 3 March 2012. He also accused the Icelandic media of giving Thóra preferential treatment, Ólafur also claimed to be the best person to steer Iceland through financial crisis. Thóra told the Reykjavik Grapevine that Iceland needs new leadership, I think we have all felt a strong need for a change in this country, has a great power of influence. An opinion poll published on 21 May by the Institute of Social Sciences at the University of Iceland showed Thóra leading with 46. 2%, with Ólafur on 37. 8%. However, after she suspended her campaign as she was due to give birth, an average of three poll prior to the election indicated Ólafur leading with 45% and Thóra in second place with 37. 7% ahead of four other candidates. Voting centres were open from 9AM to 10PM, after having voted, Thóra said DV, You see this glorious day, I cant be anything but optimistic. The Gallup poll gives an indication of the outcome, but we will just count the votes. To have the possibility to topple the current president is a victory in itself, the same day Ólafur wrote in Morgunbladid, Iceland is now at a crossroads

13.
Icelandic parliamentary election, 2007
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Parliamentary elections were held in Iceland on 12 May 2007. The Independence Party remained the largest party in the Althing, winning 25 of the 63 seats, there are 6 constituencies in Iceland. In that case a constituency seat shall travel from the constituency with the lowest figure to the one with the highest figure, however, the total number of seats must never become less than six in any constituency. The box below display the number of seats in each constituency at the 2007 parliamentary election. The available constituency seats are first distributed to each party according to the DHondt method, as a restriction on the possibility of re-ranking candidates, it is however only possible to alter the first several candidates on the list. As mentioned above, crossed out names will always be allocated a 0.00 value, the accumulated total score of the candidates voting fractions, will be used in determining which candidates receive the seats won by their party. The first leveling seat will go to the party with the highest ratio of votes per seat, the same calculation process is then repeated, until all 9 leveling seats have been allocated to specific parties. It should be noted that a partys votes per seat ratio will change during this calculation process, the second and final step is for each party being granted a leveling seat to pin point, across all constituencies, which of its runner-up candidates should then win this additional seat. The above described method is used for apportionment of all the party allocated leveling seats, the then governing parties won a razor-thin majority,32 seats against the oppositions 31. This was caused by considerable losses for the Progressive Party, which had the worst election in its more than 90-year history. 3% of the votes. After five days of speculation, it was decided on 17 May that the government would resign, haarde formally resigned on 18 May on behalf of his outgoing government. Simultaneously, he was assigned by the President of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, the coalition meetings between the Independence Party and the Alliance were held in Reykjavík and at Þingvellir, where Alþingi was established in the year of 930. On 22 May the two reached an agreement, and the new government took over on 24 May. Möller, Minister of Transportation Þórunn Sveinbjarnardóttir, Minister of Environment The Government enjoyed a vast majority on Alþingi, in the governments manifesto it is stated that it would focus on children, the elderly and the environment. The government aimed to lower taxes and raise benefits and invest heavily in education and transportation, the Social Democratic Alliance was more environmentalist and pro-EU and opposed the war in Iraq and Icelands participation in the Coalition of the Willing. A commission, though, to weigh the pros and cons of European Union membership was set up, on 23 May the chairman of the Progressive Party, Jón Sigurðsson, the outgoing Minister of Industries and Commerce, announced his resignation, due to poor results in the election. The vice chairman, Guðni Ágústsson, the outgoing Minister of Agriculture, took over the post

14.
Icelandic parliamentary election, 2009
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A parliamentary election was held in Iceland on 25 April 2009 following strong pressure from the public as a result of the Icelandic financial crisis. The Progressive Party also made gains, and the new Citizens Movement, formed after the January 2009 protests, gained four seats. The big loser was the Independence Party, which had been in power for 18 years until January 2009, it lost a third of its support, there had been weekly protests in front of the Althing since the collapse of Icelands three commercial banks in October 2008. These protests intensified with the return of the Althing from Christmas recess on 20 January 2009, three days later, Prime Minister Geir Haarde of the Independence Party announced that he was withdrawing from politics for health reasons, and promised early elections for 9 May. After consultations with all the parties represented in the Althing. This proved to be a minority coalition with the Left-Green Movement, with the support of the Progressive Party and the Liberal Party, former Social Affairs Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir became Prime Minister. The date of the elections was one of the agreements between the coalition partners, the Social Democrats preferred 9 May, while the Left-Greens wanted elections in early April, the intermediate position of the Progressive Party,25 April, was adopted. The three parties also agree to convene an assembly to discuss changes to the Constitution. There was no agreement on the question of a referendum on prospective EU membership. Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson was elected party chairman on 18 January 2009, Independence Party chairman Geir Haarde announced his retirement from politics on 23 January 2009, revealing that he had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer which required urgent treatment. He was succeeded by Bjarni Benediktsson at the convention on 29 March 2009. The party also proposed to call for two referendums on the EU – one on starting entry talks, and another on membership after negotiations are over. Social Democrat leader Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir had also been unwell since September 2008 with a brain tumour which had kept her out of the public eye for much of the financial crisis. She was elected, as expected, with a majority of 97% of the vote at the party congress of 27–29 March 2009. Two new parties were formed in the aftermath of the January protests, the Citizens Movement, both contested all six constituencies in the 2009 elections. A third new party, L-List of Sovereignty Supporters, withdrew its candidacy on 3 April, the Icelandic Movement – Living Land, which had unsuccessfully contested the 2007 election on a green platform, merged into the Social Democratic Alliance at the March 2009 party congress. Just a week before the election, the Independence Party announced that its party committee on Europe had decided to call for steps to adopt the euro as Icelands currency. Shortly before the election, Johanna Sigurðardóttir stated that her priority, if returned to government, would be EU membership, there are 6 constituencies in Iceland

15.
Icelandic parliamentary election, 2013
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An Icelandic parliamentary election was held on 27 April 2013. Fifteen parties contested the election in Iceland, compared to just seven in the previous election, the election was won by the two centre-right opposition parties, the Independence Party and Progressive Party, who subsequently formed a coalition government. The parties are eurosceptic, and their win brought to a partially completed negotiations with the European Union regarding Icelandic membership. The previous elections in 2009 were won by the Social Democratic Alliance — the first time that the Independence Party was not the largest party in the Althing, the Social Democratic Alliance was able to form a coalition with the Left-Green Movement. As a result of this, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir became the first female minister of Iceland. Five parties were elected at the election, held in April 2009. Since then, the representation for one of these, Citizens Movement, first mostly moved to The Movement and then, in March 2012. In January 2012, the new party Solidarity was founded by an incumbent MP, Lilja Mósesdóttir, another new party, Bright Future, was formed in February 2012 with the involvement of two MPs from, respectively, the Progressive Party and Social Democratic Alliance. One MP originally elected for Citizens Movement, Birgitta Jónsdóttir, also participated in the establishment of a new party in 2012, two euroskeptic Left-Green Movement MPs, Jón Bjarnason and Atli Gíslason, also decided to defect and form the new Rainbow Movement in March 2013. The box below shows the distribution of seats in the incumbent parliament on 28 March 2013, in that case a constituency seat will be reassigned from the constituency with the lowest number to the one with the highest, until the rule is met. However, the number of seats may never fall to less than six in any constituency. The box below shows the number of seats available in each constituency at the 2013 parliamentary election, the available constituency seats are first distributed to each party according to the DHondt method, so that proportional representation is ensured within each of the constituencies. As a restriction on the possibility of re-ranking candidates, it is only possible to alter the first several candidates on the list. As mentioned above, crossed out names will always be allocated a 0.00 value, the accumulated total score of the candidates voting fractions, will be used in determining which candidates receive the seats won by their party. The first leveling seat will go to the party with the highest ratio of votes per seat, the same calculation process is then repeated, until all 9 leveling seats have been allocated to specific parties. It should be noted that a partys votes per seat ratio will change during this calculation process, the second and final step is for each party being granted a leveling seat to pin point, across all constituencies, which of its runner-up candidates should then win this additional seat. The above described method is used for apportionment of all the party allocated leveling seats, the final deadline for parties to apply for participation in the parliamentary election was 9 April 2013. To be approved for a list letter to participate in the election, Dawn Iceland Democratic Party *A new party split from Dawn, founded 16 February 2013

16.
Icelandic parliamentary election, 2017
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Parliamentary elections were held in Iceland on 29 October 2016. They were due to be held on or before 27 April 2017, but following the 2016 Icelandic anti-government protests, of the 63 elected MPs,30 were female, giving Iceland the highest proportion of female MPs in Europe. A new coalition was formed on 10 January 2017, consisting of the Independence Party, mass protests calling on the Prime Minister to quit followed. Although Sigmundur Davíð had stated he had no intention of resigning, however, it was later stated by the Prime Ministers office that he had only taken a temporary leave of absence from his duties. The Progressive Partys deputy leader, Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson, became acting Prime Minister the same day, the President, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, then said he would speak to both coalition parties, Progressive Party and Independence Party, before considering whether to call new elections. Opposition parties continued to press for new elections, on 6 April, Sigurður announced, We expect to have elections this autumn. On 11 August, Bjarni Benediktsson met with opposition parties and later announced that elections would be held on 29 October 2016, the 63 members of the Althing were elected using closed list proportional representation in multi-member constituencies of 8 to 13 seats. Of the 63 seats,54 were elected using constituency results, the final deadline for parties to apply for participation in the parliamentary election was 14 October 2016. The Pirate Party announced on 16 October 2016 that they would not participate in negotiations to form a coalition government with either the Progressive Party or the Independence Party. The party did send letters to Reform, Bright Future, Social Democratic Alliance and this was the lowest turnout in Icelands history. The leader of the Independence Party, Bjarni Benediktsson, expressed preference for a three-party coalition, the leader of Reform ruled out a right-leaning three-party coalition with the Independence Party and the Progressives. Reform have not ruled out supporting the centre-left bloc, on 2 November, President Guðni Th. Jóhannesson gave the mandate to Bjarni to form a majority government, on 17 November, the mandate to form a majority government was in turn given to the leader of the Left-Greens, Katrín Jakobsdóttir. She instigated talks with Reform, Bright Future, the Pirates, and Social Democrats, on 24 November, the coalition talks fell through and Katrín formally renounced the Presidential mandate to form a government. On 2 December, the mandate to form a majority government was given to the leader of the Pirate Party, Birgitta Jónsdóttir. The Pirates were unable to form a government and the President chose not to give a new mandate to form a government, on 2 January 2017, the Independence Party started official talks about a possible coalition deal with the Reform Party and Bright Future. Morgunblaðið also reported that the Left-Green Movement and the Progressive Party had also discussed possible coalition deals with the Independence Party, a new coalition was formed on 10 January 2017 between Independence Party, Reform Party and the Bright Future with Bjarni Benediktsson becoming Prime Minister on 11 January 2017

17.
Icelandic debt repayment referendum, 2010
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The Icelandic loan guarantees referendum, also known as the Icesave referendum, was held in Iceland on 6 March 2010. The referendum was held under article 26 of the Constitution of Iceland after President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson refused to counter-sign the corresponding Act of Parliament into law on 5 January 2010, the proposal was resoundingly defeated, with 98% voting against and less than 2% in favor. The referendum was the first to be held in Iceland since 1944, the Althing approved a motion on 8 January 2010 which called for the referendum to be held by 6 March at the latest. The motion passed by 49–0 with 14 abstentions, the date of the referendum was later set for 6 March. The liabilities of the Depositors and Investors Guarantee Fund arise from the 2008–2012 Icelandic financial crisis, which saw Icelands three main commercial banks collapse within the space of a week. One of those banks, Landsbanki, had taken retail deposits from more than 400,000 British and Dutch customers through its branches in London and Amsterdam, through a product known as Icesave. This led to a dispute, and the unprecedented freezing of Landsbanki assets in the United Kingdom through the Landsbanki Freezing Order 2008. An outline agreement was reached on 16 November 2008, after mediation by France, Iceland finally reached bilateral agreements with the United Kingdom and the Netherlands on 5 June 2009. The liabilities of the Depositors and Investors Guarantee Fund were £2.35 billion in the UK, on 28 August 2009, the Althing voted 34–15 to approve a bill to regulate the repayments. Initially opposed in June, the bill was passed after amendments were added which set a ceiling on the repayment based on the gross domestic product. Under the measure, up to 4% of Icelands GDP growth would be paid to Britain from 2017–2023 while the Netherlands would receive up to 2% of Icelands GDP growth for the same period. Opponents of the bill argued that Icelanders, already reeling from the crisis, however, the government argued that if the bill failed to pass, the UK and the Netherlands might retaliate by blocking disbursements from the IMF. Revised loan agreements negotiations, including the cap on repayments, were concluded on 19 October 2009, a second Icesave bill was passed on 30 December by 33–30. The bill was presented to President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson at a meeting of the government the next morning. Grímsson refused to sign the bill immediately, pointing out that it was less than 24 hours since it had passed by the Althing. Article 26 of the Constitution of Iceland states that passed by the Althing must be counter-signed by the President within fourteen days or face a national referendum. The President had previously scheduled a meeting for 2 January 2010 with campaigners from the Indefence movement, at the meeting Indefence presented a petition bearing 56,089 signatures urging Grímsson not to sign the bill. By 4 January, the number of signatories had risen to 62,000, Grímsson announced his decision not to sign the bill at a press conference in his official residence on the morning of 5 January 2010

18.
Administrative divisions of Iceland
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This article shows the administrative divisions of Iceland. Until 2003, the constituencies for the parliament elections were the same as the regions, the imbalance between districts has been reduced by the new system, but still exists. There are eight regions which are used for statistical purposes. They also govern zoning and can take on additional functions if they have the budget for it. The autonomy of municipalities over their own matters is guaranteed by the constitution of Iceland, historically, Iceland was divided into 23 counties. Currently, Iceland is split up amongst 24 sheriffs that represent government in various capacities, the jurisdiction of the Sheriffs Offices greatly resemble the historical county divisions. Amongst their duties are local police tax collection, declaring bankruptcy, historically, Iceland was divided into farthings that were named after the cardinal directions. These were administrative divisions established in 965 for the purpose of organising regional assemblies called farthing assemblies, each farthing contained three local assemblies except the Norðlendingafjórðungur which had four. List of cities and towns in Iceland ISO 3166-2 codes of Iceland FIPS region codes of Iceland NUTS of Iceland Subdivisions of the Nordic countries

19.
Regions of Iceland
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The regions of Iceland are mainly used for statistical purposes. The district court jurisdictions also follow these divisions, the postal code system follows the regions as well, with a few exceptions. Prior to 2003, the regions were used as overall constituencies in certain parliamentary elections. Excluding its usage in collecting statistics, particularly census data. Other major changes have also included, such as the redistribution of over twenty subdivisions. These regions are not defined by law and have no standing or administrative function. The countrys healthcare program is divided into seven districts and these regions mostly correspond to those detailed below, although a few updates have yet to be fully implemented. For example, settlements in the Norðurland have suffered minor effects from the merger of the Northwest and Northeast into a single group, farthings of Iceland Municipalities of Iceland Constituencies of Iceland Subdivisions of the Nordic countries

20.
Municipalities of Iceland
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They also govern zoning and can voluntarily take on additional functions if they have the budget for it. The autonomy of municipalities over their own matters is guaranteed by the constitution of Iceland, when urbanization began in Iceland during the 18th and 19th century, several independent townships were created. The role of municipalities was further formalized during the 20th century, the trend in recent years has been to transfer more functions and power from the state to the municipalities. This has called for larger municipalities, the government encourages municipalities to merge but has taken a different approach to the issue than governments in other Nordic countries where forced amalgamation is regularly carried out. Municipalities negotiate possible mergers between themselves and the merger has to be agreed upon by the people of each municipality in a referendum, a similar approach is used by the Faroese government. Municipalities with fewer than 50 people may be merged with others by force though, the number of municipalities peaked in the mid-20th century. There were 229 of them in 1950, in 1995 their number had reduced to 170. In the year 2000 the number of municipalities in Iceland was 124, the municipalities are governed by municipal councils which are directly elected every four years. Municipal elections were last held on 29 May 2010, the sizes of these councils vary from five members in the smallest municipalities to fifteen in the largest one. Most municipalities except for the small ones hire an executive manager who may or may not be a member of the municipal council. These managers are usually referred to as mayors in the urban municipalities. It is common for these executive managers to be professionally hired, List of cities and towns in Iceland Constituencies of Iceland List of the most populated municipalities in the Nordic countries Maps of the municipalities CityMayors article

21.
Foreign relations of Iceland
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Icelands closest relations are with Norway and other Nordic states, Canada and the United States. Iceland hosted the historic 1986 Reagan-Gorbachev summit in Reykjavík, which set the stage for the end of the Cold War, Icelands principal historical international disputes involved disagreements over fishing rights. Disagreements with Norway and Russia over fishing rights in the Barents Sea were successfully resolved in 2000 and that year, Iceland established a separate commission – along with Norway, Greenland and the Faroe Islands – for the conservation, management, and study of marine mammals. Since then, Iceland has resumed whaling for scientific purpose and has rejoined the IWC, the Icelandic Fisheries Ministry issued a permit to hunt 39 whales for commercial purposes on 17 October 2006. 25 states delivered a diplomatic protest to the Icelandic government on 1 November concerning resumed commercial whaling. The protest was led by the United Kingdom and supported by such as Finland. Iceland was the first country to recognize the independence of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Georgia, Armenia. Similarly, it was the first country to recognize Montenegros independence from its union with Serbia. Iceland was also the first country to recognize Croatia, having done so on 19 December 1991, significantly, Iceland was also the first Western state to recognise Palestine when it did so in 2011. Iceland also is the greatest Nordic contributor per capita to NATO-led troops in Bosnia and Kosovo, to the police in Bosnia and to Bosniab/Kosovan reconstruction, resettlement and relief efforts. Negotiations continue between the four countries in the hope of making a joint proposal to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf by May 2009. Following the collapse of Icesave sparking the 2008–2012 Icelandic financial crisis, the U. K. and they then sought repayment from Iceland, which held a referendum on the issue in 2010 and 2011, both of which failed. The two governments said they would take the issue to European courts to seek redress they alleged is owed to them. In January 2013 the EFTA court cleared Iceland of all charges, Iceland has had a close relationship with the European Union throughout its development, but has remained outside. The EU is Icelands most important trading partner with a trade surplus in 2008/9 in terms of goods, services. Iceland also participates in the Schengen Area and has non-voting representation in some EU agencies, however, after Icelands financial crash in 2008, it has sought membership of the EU and the euro. Iceland applied on 16 July 2009 and negotiations formally began 17 June 2011, after an agreement is concluded, the accession treaty must be ratified by every EU state and be subject to a national referendum in Iceland. Since the application was submitted, popular support has declined and contentious issues around Icelandic fisheries may derail negotiations, however the Icelandic government is confident an agreement can be reached based on the flexibility shown by the EU in its previous negotiations with Norway

22.
Diplomatic mission
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In practice, a diplomatic mission usually denotes the resident mission, namely the office of a countrys diplomatic representatives in the capital city of another country. As well as being a mission to the country in which it is situated. There are thus resident and non-resident embassies, a permanent diplomatic mission is typically known as an Embassy, and the head of the mission is known as an Ambassador, or High Commissioner. Therefore, the Embassy operates in the Chancery, European Union missions abroad are known as EU delegations. Some countries have more particular naming for their missions and staff, under the rule of Muammar Gaddafi, Libyas missions used the name peoples bureau and the head of the mission was a secretary. Missions between Commonwealth countries are known as commissions and their heads are High Commissioners. This is because Ambassadors are exchanged between foreign countries, but since the beginning of the Commonwealth, member countries have maintained that they are not foreign to one another. An ambassador represents one head of state to another and a letters of credence are addressed by one head of state to another. Until India became a republic on 26 January 1950, all members of the Commonwealth had the head of state. In the past a diplomatic mission headed by an official was known as a legation. Since the ranks of envoy and minister resident are effectively obsolete, a consulate is similar to, but not the same as a diplomatic office, but with focus on dealing with individual persons and businesses, as defined by the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. A consulate or consulate general is generally a representative of the embassy in locales outside of the capital city. For instance, the United Kingdom has its Embassy of the United Kingdom in Washington, D. C. but also maintains seven consulates-general, the person in charge of a consulate or consulate-general is known as a consul or consul-general, respectively. Similar services may also be provided at the embassy in what is called a consular section. In cases of dispute, it is common for a country to recall its head of mission as a sign of its displeasure, a chargé daffaires ad interim also heads the mission during the interim between the end of one chief of missions term and the beginning of another. Contrary to popular belief, most diplomatic missions do not enjoy full extraterritorial status, rather, the premises of diplomatic missions usually remain under the jurisdiction of the host state while being afforded special privileges by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Diplomats themselves still retain full diplomatic immunity, and the host country may not enter the premises of the mission without permission of the represented country, international rules designate an attack on an embassy as an attack on the country it represents. The term extraterritoriality is often applied to missions, but normally only in this broader sense

23.
Accession of Iceland to the European Union
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Accession of Iceland to the European Union is a contentious political issue in Iceland. Iceland applied to join the European Union on 16 July 2009, however, on 13 September 2013 the Government of Iceland dissolved its accession team and suspended its application to join the EU. If negotiations were to resume, Iceland would face contentious issues on fisheries which could derail a agreement. If an agreement were to be concluded, the treaty would be subject to a national referendum in Iceland. In 2017, Icelands newly elected government announced that it would hold a vote in parliament on whether to hold a referendum on resuming EU membership negotiations. Iceland is a member of the European Free Trade Association, a grouping of four non-EU European countries, through the EEA, Iceland participates with a non-voting status in certain EU agencies and programmes, including enterprise, environment, education and research programs. Iceland also contributes funds to social and economic cohesion in the EU/EEA, Iceland also frequently consults the EU on foreign affairs and frequently aligns itself to EU foreign policy. Iceland also participates in EU civilian peacekeeping missions, Iceland is a member of the Nordic Passport Union and the Schengen Area, which now is under EU law, as a non-voting participant. Icelands participation in the Schengen Area allows free movement of people between Iceland and the rest of the Schengen Area, several thousand Icelanders travel to and study or work in the EU. A large majority of foreigners in Iceland come from the EU, Iceland is also associated with the Dublin Convention on justice and home affairs cooperation. Iceland also has links to several EU member states through its membership of the Nordic Council, Economic relations between Iceland and the European Union are primarily governed by two agreements, a bilateral free trade agreement signed in 1972, and the agreement on the EEA in 1994. The EEA was established to give Iceland, among other European countries outside the EU, Icelands access to the EU market excludes agriculture and fisheries, which are dealt with by separate bilateral agreements. Iceland is legally bound to implement into its own law all EU directives applicable to the movement of goods, persons, services. This is complemented by regular meetings between EU and Icelandic officials, including a meeting of EEA foreign ministers. 78% of Icelands exports went to the EU and 52% of Icelands imports came from it, making the EU Icelands most important trading partner, Iceland is still a large exporter of fish with a world trade surplus of €1.1 billion in 2008. In fisheries, the EU had a 2009 trade deficit of €879 million, until Icelands 2009 financial crisis, its commercial services sector had been growing rapidly, accounting for almost 35% of total exports. In 1994, the Social Democratic Party became the first Icelandic political party to include the intention to apply to join the EU in its policy statement, former Prime Minister Halldór Ásgrímsson predicted on 8 February 2006 that the country would join the EU by 2015. He added that the decisive factor would be the future and the size of the Eurozone, especially whether Denmark, Sweden and his prediction received some criticism, not the least from people within his own government

24.
Cod Wars
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The Cod Wars were a series of confrontations between the United Kingdom and Iceland regarding fishing rights in the North Atlantic. Each of the disputes ended with Icelands victory, as a result, British fishing communities lost access to rich areas and were devastated, with thousands of jobs lost. Since 1982, a 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone has been the United Nations standard, the term cod war was coined by a British journalist in early September 1958. None of the Cod Wars meets any of the thresholds for a conventional war, though. There is only one confirmed death during the Cod Wars, an Icelandic engineer accidentally killed in the Second Cod War while repairing damage on an Icelandic gunboat, a variety of explanations for the occurrence of the Cod Wars have been put forward. Lessons drawn from the Cod Wars have been applied to international relations theory, fishermen from the British Isles began to fish in international waters near Iceland in and around 1400. From the early 16th century onwards, English sailors and fishermen were a presence in the waters off Iceland. Some Icelandic historians view the history of Icelands struggle for control of its resources in ten episodes. The first of these Cod Wars was a dispute between Norway and England in 1415–1425 over the trading with Iceland, which was in violation of Norways monopoly on the Icelandic trade. This dispute ended when the English arrested Eric of Pomeranias officials in Iceland, the agreement reached in 1976 is considered the final and tenth Cod War. With increases in range of fishing enabled by steam power in the part of the 19th century. Their large catches in Icelandic waters attracted more regular voyages across the North Atlantic, in 1893, the Danish Government, which had governed Iceland and the Faroe Islands, claimed a fishing limit of 50 nmi around their shores. British trawler owners disputed this claim and continued to send their ships to the waters near Iceland, in 1896 the United Kingdom made an agreement with Denmark which allowed for British vessels to use any Icelandic port for shelter, provided they stowed their gear and trawl nets. In return, British vessels were not to fish in Faxa Bay east of a line from Ílunýpa, in April 1899 the steam trawler Caspian was fishing off the Faroe Islands when a Danish gunboat tried to arrest her for allegedly fishing illegally inside the limits. The trawler refused to stop and was fired upon, eventually the trawler was caught but, before the skipper left his ship to go aboard the Danish gunboat, he ordered the mate to make a dash for it after he went on to the Danish ship. The Caspian set off at full speed, the gunboat fired several shots at the unarmed boat but could not catch up with the trawler, which returned heavily damaged to Grimsby, England. On board the Danish gunboat, the skipper of the Caspian was lashed to the mast, a court held at Thorshavn convicted him on several counts, including illegal fishing and attempted assault, and he was jailed for thirty days. The issue was left largely unresolved, the reduction in fishing activity brought about by the hostilities of the First World War effectively ended the dispute for a time

25.
Multi-party system
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First-past-the-post requires concentrated areas of support for large representation in the legislature whereas proportional representation better reflects the range of a populations views. Proportional systems have multi-member districts with more than one elected from a given district to the same legislative body. Duvergers Law states that the number of political parties is one plus the number of seats in a district. In these countries, usually no single party has a majority by itself. Instead, multiple political parties form coalitions for the purpose of developing power blocks for governing, a system where only two parties have the possibility of winning an election is called two-party system. A system where three parties have a realistic possibility of winning an election or forming a coalition is sometimes called a Third-party system. Usually this is because the electoral system penalises the third party, in the 2010 elections, the Liberal Democrats gained 23% of the total vote but won less than 10% of the seats due to the First-Past-The-Post electoral system. Despite this, they still had enough seats to form coalitions with one of the two parties, or to make deals in order to gain their support. An example is the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition formed after the 2010 general election, another is the Lib-Lab pact during Prime Minister James Callaghans Minority Labour Government, when Labour lost its three-seat majority in 1977, the pact fell short of a full coalition. Unlike a one-party system, a multi-party system encourages the general constituency to form distinct, officially recognized groups. Each party competes for votes from the enfranchised constituents, a multi-party system prevents the leadership of a single party from controlling a single legislative chamber without challenge. If the government includes an elected Congress or Parliament, the parties may share power according to proportional representation or the first-past-the-post system, in proportional representation, each party wins a number of seats proportional to the number of votes it receives. In first-past-the-post, the electorate is divided into a number of districts and this gravitation is known as Duvergers law. Proportional representation, on the hand, does not have this tendency. But, recent coalition governments, such as that in the U. K. represent two-party systems rather than multi-party systems and this is regardless of the number of parties in government. A two-party system requires voters to align themselves in large blocs, some theories argue that this allows centrists to gain control. On the other hand, if there are multiple parties, each with less than a majority of the vote. This also promotes centrism, as well as promoting coalition-building skills while discouraging polarization, coalition Polarized pluralism Political organisation Ingroups and outgroups

26.
Political party
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A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government. The party agrees on some proposed policies and programmes, with a view to promoting the good or furthering their supporters interests. While there is some international commonality in the way political parties are recognized, and in how they operate, there are many differences. Many political parties have a core, but some do not. In many democracies, political parties are elected by the electorate to run a government, many countries, such as Germany and India, have several significant political parties, and some nations have one-party systems, such as China and Cuba. The United States is in practice a two-party system, but with smaller parties also participating. Its two most important parties are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, the first political factions, cohering around a basic, if fluid, set of principles, emerged from the Exclusion Crisis and Glorious Revolution in late 17th century England. The leader of the Whigs was Robert Walpole, who maintained control of the government in the period 1721–1742, as the century wore on, the factions slowly began to adopt more coherent political tendencies as the interests of their power bases began to diverge. The Whig partys initial base of support from the aristocratic families widened to include the emerging industrial interests. A major influence on the Whigs were the political ideas of John Locke. They acted as a united, though unavailing, opposition to Whig corruption and they finally regained power with the accession of George III in 1760 under Lord Bute. Out of this chaos, the first distinctive parties emerged, the first such party was the Rockingham Whigs under the leadership of Charles Watson-Wentworth and the intellectual guidance of the political philosopher Edmund Burke. A coalition including the Rockingham Whigs, led by the Earl of Shelburne, took power in 1782, the new government, led by the radical politician Charles James Fox in coalition with Lord North, was soon brought down and replaced by William Pitt the Younger in 1783. It was now that a genuine two-party system began to emerge, by the time of this split the Whig party was increasingly influenced by the ideas of Adam Smith, founder of classical liberalism. As Wilson and Reill note, Adam Smiths theory melded nicely with the political stance of the Whig Party. The modern Conservative Party was created out of the Pittite Tories of the early 19th century, in the late 1820s disputes over political reform broke up this grouping. A government led by the Duke of Wellington collapsed amidst dire election results, following this disaster Robert Peel set about assembling a new coalition of forces. However, a consensus reached on these issues ended party politics in 1816 for a decade, Party politics revived in 1829 with the split of the Democratic-Republican Party into the Jacksonian Democrats led by Andrew Jackson, and the Whig Party, led by Henry Clay

27.
Political spectrum
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A political spectrum is a system of classifying different political positions upon one or more geometric axes that symbolize independent political dimensions. Most long-standing spectra include a wing and left wing, which originally referred to seating arrangements in the French parliament after the Revolution. According to the simplest left–right axis, communism and socialism are usually regarded internationally as being on the left, liberalism can mean different things in different contexts, sometimes on the left, sometimes on the right. Those with an intermediate outlook are classified as centrists or moderates, politics that rejects the conventional left–right spectrum is known as syncretic politics. Political scientists have noted that a single left–right axis is insufficient for describing the existing variation in political beliefs. As seen from the Speakers seat at the front of the Assembly, the aristocracy sat on the right, originally, the defining point on the ideological spectrum was the Ancien Régime. The Right thus implied support for aristocratic or royal interests, and the church, while The Left implied support for republicanism, secularism, and civil liberties. Because the political franchise at the start of the revolution was relatively narrow, the original Left represented mainly the interests of the bourgeoisie and their political interests in the French Revolution lay with opposition to the aristocracy, and so they found themselves allied with the early capitalists. However, this did not mean that their interests lay with the laissez-faire policies of those representing them politically. As capitalist economies developed, the aristocracy became less relevant and were replaced by capitalist representatives. This evolution has often pulled parliamentary politicians away from laissez-faire economic policies, for almost a century, social scientists have considered the problem of how best to describe political variation. In 1950, Leonard W. Submitting the results to factor analysis and this system was derived empirically, rather than devising a political model on purely theoretical grounds and testing it, Fergusons research was exploratory. As a result of method, care must be taken in the interpretation of Fergusons three factors, as factor analysis will output an abstract factor whether an objectively real factor exists or not. Although replication of the Nationalism factor was inconsistent, the finding of Religionism and Humanitarianism had a number of replications by Ferguson, shortly afterward, Hans Eysenck began researching political attitudes in Great Britain. He believed that there was something similar about the National Socialists on the one hand. Submitting this value questionnaire to the process of factor analysis used by Ferguson. Such analysis produces a factor whether or not it corresponds to a real-world phenomenon, Eysencks dimensions of R and T were found by factor analyses of values in Germany and Sweden, France, and Japan. According to Eysenck, members of both ideologies were tough-minded, in this context, Eysenck carried out studies on nazism and communist groups, claiming to find members of both groups to be more dominant and more aggressive than control groups

28.
Progressive Party (Iceland)
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The Progressive Party is a centre-right, populist and agrarian political party in Iceland. Current chairman of the party is Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson who was elected on 2 October 2016 and his predecessor was Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, who was elected on 18 January 2009 and was Prime Minister of Iceland from 23 May 2013 to 5 April 2016. It was founded in 1916 as a merger of two parties, the Farmers Party and the Independent Farmers. In 1956 the party almost agreed to a merger with the Social Democratic Party. Throughout Icelands history as a self-governing and independent nation, the Progressive Party has most often been the second largest political party in the country and it has often joined government coalitions with either the Independence Party on the centre-right, or with centre-left parties. The party was a partner to the Independence Party during the period 1995 to 2007. The 1974 parliamentary election led to a government of the Independence Party. The 1983 parliamentary election resulted in Progressive Party leader Steingrímur Hermannsson becoming Prime Minister in coalition with the Independence Party, however, in September 1988, a new government was formed by the Progressive Partys Steingrímur Hermannsson with the Social Democrats and Peoples Alliance. Following the 1991 parliamentary election, the Progressive Party was in opposition, in the 2003 parliamentary election, the Progressive Party received 17. 2% of the vote and 12 seats in the Althing. On 15 September 2004, Halldór Ásgrímsson of the Progressive Party took over as Prime Minister from Davíð Oddsson, Halldór Ásgrímsson announced his intention to resign on 5 June 2006 following the partys poor results in the 2006 municipal elections. The coalition remained allied with the Independence Party chairman, Geir H. Haarde, in the 2007 parliamentary election, the party dropped five seats to hold only seven seats, down from twelve. In January 2009, it decided to change its party line on joining the European Union from being opposed to being in favour of EU accession, the party later changed its policy to one of firm opposition to EU membership. In the wake of the 2008–2012 Icelandic financial crisis, the Progressive Party became more populist, under the new post-crisis leader- ship, the Progressive Party thus moved closer to populist parties in Europe. In the 2009 parliamentary election, the Progressive Party fared somewhat better, securing 14. 8% of the vote and it remained in opposition, however, with a centre-left coalition of the Social Democratic Alliance and the Left-Green Movement continuing to govern with an increased majority. In the 2013 parliamentary election, the Progressive Party reached second place nationally, nordic agrarian parties Liberalism Contributions to liberal theory Liberalism worldwide List of liberal parties Liberal democracy Liberalism and centrism in Iceland Progressive Party official site

29.
Euroscepticism
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Euroscepticism means criticism of the European Union. Some observers though prefer to understand opposition to and total rejection of the EU as Euroscepticism, traditionally, the main source of Euroscepticism has been the notion that integration weakens the nation state, and a desire to slow, halt or reverse integration within the EU. Other views often held by Eurosceptics include perceptions of a deficit in the European Union or a belief that the EU is too bureaucratic. A Eurobarometer survey of EU citizens in 2009 showed that support for membership of the EU was lowest in Latvia, the United Kingdom, by 2016, the countries viewing the EU most unfavourably were Greece, France, Spain and the UK. Euroscepticism is found in political parties across the spectrum, however. Trust in the EU and its institutions has declined strongly since a peak in 2007. In 2016, a referendum asking whether the United Kingdom either should remain a member of, or leave. While having some overlaps, Euroscepticism and anti-Europeanism are different, anti-Europeanism has always had a strong influence in American culture and American exceptionalism, which sometimes sees Europe on the decline or as a rising rival power, or both. Some aspects of euroscepticism in the United Kingdom have been mirrored by US authors, there can be considered to be several different types of Eurosceptic thought, which differ in the extent to which adherents reject European integration and in their reasons for doing so. Aleks Szczerbiak and Paul Taggart described two of these as hard and soft Euroscepticism, the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy group in the European Parliament, typified by such parties as the United Kingdom Independence Party, is hard Eurosceptic. In western European EU member countries, hard Euroscepticism is currently a hallmark of many anti-establishment parties, some hard Eurosceptics such as UKIP prefer to call themselves Eurorealists rather than sceptics, and regard their position as pragmatic rather than in principle. I think theyre building an empire there, they want us to be a part of their empire, François Asselineau of the French Popular Republican Union has criticised the use of the term sceptic to describe hard Eurosceptics and would rather advocate the use of the term Euro opponent. Soft Euroscepticism is support for the existence of, and membership of, a form of European Union, some have claimed that there is no clear line between hard and soft euroscepticism. Some scholars consider the difference in terminology between hard and soft Euroscepticism inadequate to accommodate the large differences in terms of political agenda. Therefore, hard Euroscepticism has also referred to as Europhobia. Other alternative names for hard and soft Euroscepticism include withdrawalist respectively reformist Euroscepticism, about 43% of Europeans thought things were going in the wrong direction” in the EU, compared with 23% who thought things were going in the right direction. About 32% of EU citizens tend to trust the European Union as an institution, distrust of the EU was highest in Greece, Cyprus, Austria, France Germany, the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic. Overall, more respondents distrusted their own government than the EU, distrust of national government was highest in Greece, Slovenia, Portugal, Cyprus and France

30.
Populism
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Populism is a political doctrine that proposes that the common people are exploited by a privileged elite, and which seeks to resolve this. The underlying ideology of populists can be left, right, or center and its goal is uniting the uncorrupt and the unsophisticated little man against the corrupt dominant elites and their camp of followers. It is guided by the belief that political and social goals are best achieved by the actions of the masses. Political parties and politicians often use the terms populist and populism as pejoratives against their opponents, such a view sees populism as demagogy, merely appearing to empathize with the public through rhetoric or unrealistic proposals in order to increase appeal across the political spectrum. Populism is most common in democratic nations, historically, academic definitions of populism vary, and people have often used the term in loose and inconsistent ways to reference appeals to the people, demagogy, and catch-all politics. The term has also used as a label for new parties whose classifications are unclear. In recent years, academic scholars have produced definitions that facilitate populist identification and comparison, in the United States and Latin America, populism has generally been associated with the left, whereas in European countries, populism is more associated with the right. In both, the tenet of populism—that democracy should reflect the pure and undiluted will of the people—means it can sit easily with ideologies of both right and left. Cas Mudde says, Many observers have noted that populism is inherent to representative democracy, after all, most recently, many observers have categorized the rise of Donald Trump in the U. S. and Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines as populist in nature. Populism has taken left-wing, right-wing, and even centrist forms, as well as forms of politics that bring together groups and individuals of diverse partisan views. The use of populist rhetoric in the United States has recently included references such as the trial lawyer lobby. Subsistence peasant movements, such as the Eastern European Green Rising militias, intellectuals who romanticize hard-working farmers and peasants and build radical agrarian movements like the Russian narodniki. Populist democracy, including calls for political participation through reforms such as the use of popular referenda. Politicians populism marked by non-ideological appeals for the people to build a unified coalition, reactionary populism, such as the white backlash harvested by George Wallace. Populist dictatorship, such as established by Getúlio Vargas in Brazil. Scholars have argued that populist elements have appeared in authoritarian movements. Conspiracist scapegoating employed by various populist movements can create a seedbed for fascism, National Socialist populism interacted with and facilitated fascism in interwar Germany. In this case, distressed middle–class populists mobilized their anger against the government, the Nazis parasitized the forms and themes of the populists and moved their constituencies far to the right through ideological appeals involving demagoguery, scapegoating, and conspiracism

31.
Independence Party (Iceland)
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The Independence Party is a centre-right political party in Iceland. Liberal conservative and Eurosceptic, it is the largest party in the Althing, the chairman of the party is Bjarni Benediktsson. The secretary of the party is Áslaug Arna Sigurbjörnsdóttir and it was formed in 1929 through a merger of the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party. This united the two parties advocating the dissolution of the Union of Denmark and Iceland, dissolution was achieved in 1944, from 1929, the party won the largest share of the vote in every election until the 2009 election, when it fell behind the Social Democratic Alliance. Until Benediktsson took the leadership after the 2009 defeat, every Independence Party leader has also held the office of Prime Minister, since 2017, Benediktsson is Prime Minister of Iceland. The Independence Party broadly encompasses all centre-right thought in Iceland, economically liberal and opposed to interventionism, the party is supported most strongly by fishermen and high-earners, particularly in Reykjavík. It supports Icelandic membership of NATO but opposes the idea of joining the European Union and it is a member of the International Democrat Union and it joined the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists in November 2011, a centre-right eurosceptic European political party. The Independence Party was founded on 25 May 1929 through a merger of the Conservative Party and it readopted the name of the historical Independence Party, which had split between the Conservatives and Liberals in 1927. From its first election, in 1931, it was the largest party in Iceland, the Independence Party won the 2007 elections, increasing their seat tally in the Althing by 3. It formed a new government under Haarde with the Social Democratic Alliance. The party has been the sole major right-wing party in Iceland since its inception, as a result, the party is not as far to the right as most right-wing parties in Scandinavia, serving as a catch-all party. The party, like the British Conservatives, states a claim to be pragmatic, as opposed to ideological. For most of its period of dominance, the party has relied upon coalition government. The Independence Party has generally been economically liberal and advocated limited government intervention in the economy and it was originally committed to laissez-faire economics, but shifted its economic policies left-wards in the 1930s, accepting the creation of a welfare state. The party has historically been conservative on social issues than centre-right parties in Scandinavia. Most significant legislative advances in LGBT rights have happened while the IP was in government, the party was the only consistent advocate for the end of prohibition of beer, and provided three-quarters of voters in favour of legalisation, the ban was lifted in 1989. The partys skeptic position on EU membership was confirmed at its congress in March 2009. Its near-permanent position as Icelands largest party has guaranteed Icelands Atlanticist stance, the party is in favour of allowing Icelanders to participate in peacekeeping missions, including in Afghanistan

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Liberal conservatism
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It is a political position which incorporates support for civil liberties and capitalism, along with some social-conservative positions. As both conservatism and liberalism have had different meanings over time and across countries, the liberal conservatism has been used in quite different ways. It usually contrasts with aristocratic conservatism, which rejects the principle of equality as something in discordance with human nature, consequently, in the United States the term liberal conservatism is not used and American modern liberalism happens to be quite different from the European brand. The opposite is true in Latin America, where economically liberal conservatism is often labelled under the rubric of neoliberalism both in culture and academic discourse. In much of central and northwestern Europe, especially in Germanic and traditionally Protestant countries, often this involves stressing free-market economics and the belief in individual responsibility together with the defense of civil rights, and support for a limited welfare state. In the modern European discourse, liberal conservatism usually encompasses centre-right political outlooks that reject, at least to some extent and this position is also associated with support for moderate forms of social safety net and environmentalism. Historically, in the 18th and 19th centuries, conservatism comprised a set of principles based on concern for established tradition, respect for authority, and religious values. This form of traditionalist or classical conservatism is often considered to be exemplified by the writings of Joseph de Maistre, contemporaneous liberalism – now recalled as classical liberalism – advocated both political freedom for individuals and a free market in the economic sphere. The maxim of liberal conservatism, according to scholar Andrew Vincent, is economics is prior to politics, nonetheless, in most countries the term liberal is used to describe those with free-market economic views. This is the case, for example, in continental Europe, Australia and Latin America

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Right-wing politics
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Hierarchy and inequality may be viewed as natural results of traditional social differences or the competition in market economies. The term right-wing can generally refer to the conservative or reactionary section of a party or system. The original Right in France was formed as a reaction against the Left, and comprised those politicians supporting hierarchy, tradition, the use of the expression la droite became prominent in France after the restoration of the monarchy in 1815, when it was applied to the Ultra-royalists. The people of English-speaking countries did not apply the terms right, from the 1830s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from nobility and aristocracy towards capitalism. This general economic shift toward capitalism affected centre right movements such as the British Conservative Party, in the United States, the Right includes both economic and social conservatives. The nobility, members of the Second Estate, generally sat to the right, in the successive legislative assemblies, monarchists who supported the Ancien Régime were commonly referred to as rightists because they sat on the right side. A major figure on the right was Joseph de Maistre, who argued for a form of conservatism. Throughout the 19th century, the line dividing Left and Right in France was between supporters of the republic and supporters of the monarchy. In British politics, the right and left came into common use for the first time in the late 1930s in debates over the Spanish Civil War. The meaning of right-wing varies across societies, historical epochs, and political systems, according to The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics, in liberal democracies, the political Right opposes socialism and social democracy. Right-wing parties include conservatives, Christian democrats, classical liberals, nationalists and, on the far Right, Roger Eatwell and Neal OSullivan divide the Right into five types, reactionary, moderate, radical, extreme, and new. Chip Berlet argues that each of these styles of thought are responses to the left, including liberalism and socialism, the reactionary right looks toward the past and is aristocratic, religious and authoritarian. Often the moderate right promotes nationalism and social welfare policies, radical right is a term developed after World War II to describe groups and ideologies such as McCarthyism, the John Birch Society, Thatcherism, and the Republikaner Party. Eatwell stresses that use has major typological problems and that the term has also been applied to clearly democratic developments. The radical right includes right-wing populism and various other subtypes, Eatwell argues that the extreme right has four traits, 1) anti-democracy, 2) nationalism, 3) racism, and 4) the strong state. The New Right consists of the conservatives, who stress small government, free markets. Other authors make a distinction between the centre-right and the far right, parties of the centre-right generally support liberal democracy, capitalism, the market economy, private property rights, and a limited welfare state. They support conservatism and economic liberalism, and oppose socialism and communism, typical examples of leaders to whom the far right label is often applied are Francisco Franco in Spain and Augusto Pinochet in Chile

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Bjarni Benediktsson (born 1970)
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Bjarni Benediktsson, known colloquially as Bjarni Ben, is an Icelandic politician, who has served as Prime Minister since January 2017. He has been the leader of the Icelandic Independence Party since 2009, after obtaining a law degree at the University of Iceland, Bjarni completed his studies in Germany and the United States before returning to Iceland to work as a lawyer. The former Icelandic Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson was his great-uncle, Bjarni entered the national parliament in 2003 and has been active in several committees in the areas of economy and taxation, industry and foreign affairs. The party came in second in the elections with 16 seats, after conceding defeat on 26 April 2009, Bjarni said his party had lost the trust of voters. We lost this time but we will win again later, he said, in the 2013 Althing elections on 28 April the Independence Party and their ally the Progressive Party each won 19 seats. On 17 May 2013 Icelandic media reported that Bjarni would take up the position of Minister of Finance, in the 2016 Althing elections, the Independence Party won 21 seats, while the Progressive party only won 8. Shortly after the results, Prime Minister Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson resigned from his post, a new coalition between the Independence Party, the Reform Party and Bright Future was formed in January 2017 with Bjarni designated to become Prime Minister. In 2015, it was revealed that Bjarni had registered on Ashley Madison, in response, Bjarni and his wife said that they had both registered on the site because they were curious. As reported in 2016, Bjarni shared what is known as power of attorney over a company involved in the Panama Papers. Bjarni came under criticism in January 2017 for not revealing a government report on the bank activities of Icelanders before the 2016 parliamentary elections. Bjarni falsely told reporters that he had not seen the prior to the elections. He later apologized for his inaccurate timeline, Bjarni became Prime Minister of Iceland on 11 January 2017. Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs > Minister Government Offices of Iceland > Present Government of Iceland

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Left-Green Movement
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The Left-Green Movement is a left-wing and green political party in Iceland. It is the second largest party in the Althingi, with 10 members of 63 in total, the party opposes Icelands involvement in NATO and also the U. S. invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. The party rejects membership of the European Union and supports the Palestinian cause in the Middle East and it supports the mutual adaptation and integration of immigrants into Icelandic society as necessary. The Left-Green Movement is a member of the Nordic Green Left Alliance, the party chair is Katrín Jakobsdóttir, MP. The vice chair is Björn Valur Gíslason The secretary-general of the party is Björg Eva Erlendsdóttir, in the 1999 parliamentary elections the Left-Green Movement took 9. 1% of the vote and six seats in the Alþingi. It had five members in the 63-seat Icelandic parliament after the 2003 elections where it polled 8. 8% of the vote, after the 2007 elections the party had 9 seats in parliament, having received 14. 3% of the vote. 9% of the vote. The party, gained one seat in addition, when a non-party parliamentarian joined the party, since then, three members of the parliamentary group have left the party. One joined the centrist Progressive Party and two others are became non-partisans, after the elections of 2013, the party was in the opposition and had 7 seats in the parliament. Currently, after the elections of 2016, the party is in the opposition and has 10 seats in the parliament, since the elections in 2016, the Left-Green Movement has ten members of parliament. The Left-Green Movement official page The Left-Green Movement page at the Nordic Green Left Alliance website

In Switzerland, with no need to register, every citizen receives the ballot papers and information brochure for each vote, and can return it by post. Switzerland has various directly democratic instruments; votes are organised about four times a year.